Holdings of Lambeth Palace Library

Archives of Bishops, Churchmen and Societies

• finding aids are indicated in red, with full bibliographic details where appropriate;
• Finding aids  marked with a star (*) are unpublished;
• Item reference numbers are given in bold.
• Finding aids marked with a hash (#) are available to purchase exclusively from the Library. Please see details.

BELL PAPERS

Correspondence and diaries of George Kennedy Allen Bell (1883-1958), successively student of Christ Church, chaplain to Archbishop Davidson, dean of Canterbury, and from 1929 bishop of Chichester. This extensive collection includes material on the German churches before and after the war, the allies' war policy, relief work among refugees, the atomic bomb, the ecumenical movement and Churches overseas, South Africa, religious drama and art, liturgy, and church and state relations.

List of the papers of George Kennedy Allen Bell, bishop of Chichester, 1929-1957 (typescript).*
This includes a description of the German Church volumes.

Barber, M. Catalogue and index to general correspondence of G.K.A. Bell, bishop of Chichester, 1929-1957, vols. 184-358 (typescript, 1997).*

CHRISTIAN FAITH SOCIETY (CFS)

The Christian Faith Society originated in 1691 in a bequest of Robert Boyle for advancing religion among infidels, and was renamed in 1794 the Society for the Conversion and Religious Education of the Negro Slaves in the British West-India Islands and in 1836 the Society for Advancing the Christian Faith in the British West-India Islands. The papers comprise minutes, correspondence and accounts, 1642-1956.

Catalogue of the records of the Christian Faith Society on permanent loan to Lambeth Palace Library (typescript).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website 

Micropublication of the Christian Faith Society is available from World Microfilms Publications.

CHURCH SOCIETY (CS)

The Church Society was founded in 1950 by the merger of the Church Association (f. 1865) and the National Protestant League (f.1906), which was itself an amalgamation of the National Protestant Church Union (f.1893) and the Church of England League (f.1904), formerly the Ladies League (f.1899).  The collection comprises minutes of the Church Association and its committees from 1867, and the National Protestant Church League, 1919-49.

Catalogue of the records of the Church Society on permanent deposit in Lambeth Palace Library (typescript).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website

CHURCH UNION (CU)

The English Church Union was founded in 1860 by the merger of the Church of England Protection Society (f.1859) with a number of local church societies with the similar object of defending and propagating high church principles.  In 1934 the ECU united with the Anglo-Catholic Congress to form the Church Union.  The collection comprises minutes of the ECU and CU, Anglo-Catholic Congresses, Bristol Church Union, and parochial returns on reservation, 1954.

Catalogue of the records of the Church Union on permanent deposit in Lambeth Palace Library (typescript).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website 

COMMONWEALTH RECORDS (COMM)

Records of ecclesiastical administration during the Commonwealth period, including parochial surveys, and surveys of the former episcopal and capitular estates, records of appointment of clergy and augmentation of benefices.  Originally numbered in the manuscript sequence as 902-22, 944-50, 966-1021, these were renumbered in the 1960s as a separate collection.

Houston, J. Catalogue of ecclesiastical records of the Commonwealth 1643-1660 in the Lambeth Palace Library (1968).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website

Kershaw, S.W. Index to the augmentation books (manuscript, 1888).*
Available in Lambeth Palace Library reading room

Catalogue of Additional Commonwealth Records on deposit in the Library (typescript).*
Available in Lambeth Palace Library reading room

Micropublication of the Commonwealth Records is available from World Microfilms Publications.

DOCTORS COMMONS (DC)

Doctors' Commons, the association or college of ecclesiastical lawyers founded in 1511 and situated in Knightrider Street, London, was dissolved following the Court of Probate Act, 1857.  Its records were dispersed, but most of those that survive are in the Library. These comprise the register, 1511-1855, a 19th century minute book, and financial and estate papers.  For further details and a calendar of the register of Doctors' Commons (DC 1), see G.D. Squibb, Doctors' Commons. A history of the College of advocates and doctors of law, (1977).

List of the records of Doctors' Commons in Lambeth Palace Library (typescript).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website

DOUGLAS PAPERS

Correspondence of Canon J.A. Douglas, vicar of St. Luke, Camberwell, and from 1933 hon. general secretary of the Church of England Council on Foreign Relations, concerning relations between the Church of England and the Eastern Orthodox Churches during the first half of the 20th century.

Catalogue of the Papers of John Albert Douglas, hon. general secretary of the Church of England Council on Foreign Relations, 1933-1945 (typescript).*

FULHAM PAPERS: PAPERS OF THE BISHOPS OF LONDON

The Fulham Papers comprise the archive of the bishops of London transferred from Fulham Palace, the former residence of the bishops of London.  The majority of the collection dates from the 18th-19th centuries and includes correspondence on the administration of the diocese of London, and on the churches, particularly in America and the West Indies, which came under the bishop's jurisdiction before the founding of separate episcopates in those countries.  It also includes a series of visitation returns, 1763-1900, the earlier volumes being in the Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, one of the recognised record offices for the diocese of London.  In addition to the records of the diocese of London held at the Guildhall Library, further diocesan records are held at London Metropolitan Archives (ref: DL): some catalogues are available online via the A2A (Access to Archives) website. Information about the extent of the diocese of London is available here.

Barber, M. Summary catalogue of the Fulham Papers (London diocesan papers) (typescript).
This covers collections not separately catalogued or indexed below.  Included are papers of the following bishops: Henry Compton (1676-1713), John Robinson (1714-23), Edmund Gibson (1723-48), Thomas Sherlock (1748-61), Thomas Hayter (1761-2), Richard Osbaldeston (1762-4), Richard Terrick (1764-77), Robert Lowth (1778-87), Mandell Creighton (1897-1901), Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram (1901-39), Geoffrey Fisher (1939-45).
These catalogues are available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website 

Manross, W.W. The Fulham Papers in the Lambeth Palace Library. American colonial section. Calendar and indexes (Oxford, 1965).#

This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website

Rightmyer, T.N. "Fulham Papers volumes XLI & XLII: an addition to W. Manross", and "Fulham Papers Volume 42: licenses to North America in the time of Bishop Gibson", (in Anglican and episcopal history, vol. 62; 1993: pp. 237-65, 429-46).

Barber, M. An index to the London diocesan returns in Lambeth Palace Library, 1763-1900 (typescript, 1991).*
Includes visitation returns, 1763-1900, and returns of papists, 1765-7.
Introduction, volume list for London diocese, examples of articles (questions) and returns (answers), and place name index now available online.

Bellord, J. Name index to the returns of papists, 1767, for the diocese of London, (typescript, 1997).*

Barber, M. Catalogue of the papers of Beilby Porteus, bishop of London, 1787-1809, in Lambeth Palace Library, (typescript, 1994).*

Barber, M. Catalogue of the papers of John Randolph, bishop of London, 1809-1813, in Lambeth Palace Library, (typescript, 1988).*

Index to the letters and papers of William Howley, bishop of London, 1813-1828, in Lambeth Palace Library, (typescript, 1993).*

Index to the letters and papers of Charles James Blomfield, bishop of London, 1828-1856, in Lambeth Palace Library,  (typescript, 1986).*

Greenway, D. Letters and papers of Archibald Campbell Tait, bishop of London, 1856-1868 (typescript circulated by the National Register of Archives, 1968).
This index relates to Tait vols. 105-59 only. Other London material is included in Tait Canterbury.

Catalogue of the letters and papers of John Jackson, bishop of London, 1869-1885, in Lambeth Palace Library (typescript, 2003).*

Peters, V.B. Catalogue of the letters and papers of Frederick Temple, bishop of London, 1885-1896, in Lambeth Palace Library, (typescript, 1993).*

There is also a card index to 18th century London clergy.

Micropublication of the Fulham Papers (American and Colonial: vols. 1-42) is available in a number of American Libraries and may be purchased from World Microfilms Publications. Micropublications of the Blomfield letter-books and the London visitation returns, 1763-1815, are also available from the latter.

INCORPORATED CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY (I.C.B.S.)

The records of the Incorporated Church Building Society comprise the minute books and some 16,000 files relating to applications for grants for the building and restoration of churches thoughout England and Wales, from the foundation of the Society in 1818 until 1982.  Applications were made on a standard form which included data on the population and character of the parish, as well as information on the church building.

Database of I.C.B.S. records (1997).*
Includes a list of the files, and identifies the churches, reasons for the grants, and the names of surveyors, architects or other professionals responsible for the buildings, and indicates the existence of plans and photographs.
Following a project to digitize the I.C.B.S. plans, this database and images of the plans are now available online: http://www.churchplansonline.org

"List of I.C.B.S. grants, 1818-1927" (from The Incorporated Church Building Society annual report for ... 1927). 

ISAAC WILLIAMS PAPERS

Correspondence and sermons of the Rev. Isaac Williams, 1802-1865, a leading tractarian, have now been transferred to the Library's manuscripts sequence (ref: MSS. 4473-4479). 

Formerly catalogued as List of the Isaac Williams papers deposited on permanent loan in Lambeth Palace Library (typescript).*

KEBLE PAPERS

Correspondence and papers of the Rev. John Keble and various relatives, including Thomas Keble, vicar of Bisley, 1778-1894.

List of the Keble Papers deposited on permanent loan in Lambeth Palace Library (typescript).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website 

LORD WHARTON'S CHARITY (LWC)

The Lord Wharton Charity was founded in 1692 by Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton, for the purchase of bibles, catechisms and other books for poor children in Buckinghamshire, Cumberland, Westmorland, and Yorkshire.  The collection includes accounts, minutes and papers, mainly 19th-20th century.

List of the records of Lord Wharton's Charity on permanent deposit in Lambeth Palace Library (typescript).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website 

ROYAL COMMISSION ON ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE

Correspondence and papers of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline, which was appointed in 1904 and reported in 1906: Report of the Royal Commission on Discipline, together with Minutes of evidence taken before the Royal Commission.  The papers comprise 25 volumes, including minute books, surveys of churches where ritualist practices had been introduced, 1901-5, and newspaper cuttings, 1904-6. 

Barber, M. Catalogue of the records of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline (typescript).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website 

SERMONS

Copy of 48 sermons preached between 1672 and 1689. Attributed to John Kettlewell (1653-1695), but the authorship is uncertain.

List (typescript).*

SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL (S.P.G.)

Correspondence and papers of the S.P.G., comprising the the papers of John Chamberlayne, first secretary of S.P.G., 1702-11, later given to the archbishop of Canterbury, minutes, 1701-50, financial records, 1702-96, and some late 18th century correspondence of the archbishops of Canterbury relating to the church overseas and the establishment of episcopacy in America.  For other correspondence, 1702-14, see the Tenison volume in Early Modern Archbishops Papers, and minutes of S.P.G., 1758-66, see MS. 1124.

Manross, W.W. S.P.G. papers in the Lambeth Palace Library. Calendar and indexes, (Oxford, 1974).#

This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website

Micropublication of the S.P.G. Papers is available in a number of American Libraries and may be purchased from World Microfilms Publications.

Note that other SPG records are held at Rhodes House.

SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF POOR PIOUS CLERGYMEN (SRPPC)

The Society was instituted in 1788 for the relief of country clergy, 'the tenor of whose preaching is according to the doctrinal articles of the Church of England'.  The records comprise minute books and registers, 1788-1864.

List of the records of the Society for the relief of poor pious clergymen on permanent loan to Lambeth Palace Library, 1787-1964 (typescript).
This catalogue is available on the A2A (Access to Archives) website

LIBRARY RECORDS (LR)

The Library Records comprise a miscellaneous collection of material on the history of the Library, including obsolete catalogues, ranging from the earliest, which provides a catalogue of the books and manuscripts of the Library's founder, Archbishop Bancroft, in 1612 and includes an account of the Library's foundation (F1), to those of previous Librarians (Paul Colomiès, David Wilkins, A.C. Ducarel, S.R. Maitland and S.W. Kershaw).  Also included are letter-books of Claude Jenkins, Lambeth Librarian, correspondence, mainly 20th century, a few visitors' books, and annual reports. Refer also to a bibliography on the Library's history.